


Insomnia

by Solstarin



Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-13
Updated: 2017-12-13
Packaged: 2019-02-14 04:00:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,158
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12999390
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Solstarin/pseuds/Solstarin
Summary: Insomnia sucks, but luckily Loki knows how to fix it.





	Insomnia

**Author's Note:**

> Day 12!

A soft shuffling in the hallway interrupted Loki’s otherwise peaceful atmosphere. He lifted his eyes from his book to see his lover emerging from her bedroom, headed for the kitchen. He glanced to the clock ticking away on the wall- 3:45. For the last four nights, Y/N had emerged from her quarters at some early hour to make a cup of tea. He watched her from his perch on the loveseat beneath his favorite lamp, the one that cast a warm yellow light, reminiscent of the glow of his mother’s magic. Y/N preferred absolute darkness to fall asleep, and he did not have the night vision to read beside her in bed.

He did not need nearly as much rest as this strange, frail creatures. Unfortunately, his chief source of entertainment needed several hours in a Midgardian day to function properly, and he had learned the hard way that the longer he kept her occupied and awake the less manageable she became. Occasionally he would bed with her for a night, but a full human sleep cycle typically lasted him another two of their days. Most of his time waiting for her to awaken was spent reading- she had taken him to the closest public library to pick some material, and they had begun to make trips a regular event. He wasn’t used to having a deadline to return his reading, let alone being held accountable when he missed that deadline; no one in Asgard dared tell the Prince to relinquish any source of knowledge.

But, he supposed, he was not a Prince of Asgard anymore. He was a guest of this human woman, who let him in and allowed him a space in all that she was, and if his mother taught him anything as a child, it was always to be grateful and respectful, though it may not seem he followed those teachings, at times. Y/N’s environment required him to compose himself differently, and he would do so. Besides, it was nice to see what literature interested her, and experience it for himself.

“Can’t sleep?” he asked as his lover flicked the electric kettle on and opened a cupboard for a mug. All he received in response was a heavy sigh.

He let her be and elected to watch her quietly as she fixed her tea. Even in the dim light of his lamp, that cast just enough light for her to see, the shadows under her eyes were apparent. She came to sit near him to drink, tucking her feet beneath his thigh, and in their closeness he could see how haggard her face was. He frowned.

“Have you slept at all?”

Again, silence, but her face twisted and she frowned into her tea.

“Darling, you can’t keep this up. What’s keeping you awake?”

“I don’t know,” she snapped. “Do you _think_ I _want_ to stay awake for days on end?”

Loki pressed his mouth into a thin line. Y/N was generally uncomfortable with him using his magic on her, even if it were something simple like a sigil to protect her. Of course he had secretly drawn symbols on her with his fingertips when he had the opportunity, but he couldn’t put a preemptive sleep spell on her while she already slept. Her tea didn’t seem to help, as she would emerge each morning looking no better than the night before. It pained him to see sleep evade her so vehemently, and for her to suffer the consequences. Perhaps there was something else he could do to help her.

“Would you like me to sit with you?”

Y/N’s eyes flicked across the room, and returned to her tea. “I don’t think that will help. I’m already sleeping in your shirts.” She lifted a hand from her mug and shook out a too-long sleeve.

Loki hummed. “Perhaps if I read to you? My mother would read to me as a child when sleep evaded me. Perhaps it could do some good for you as well.”

For some reason, the blush that brightened Y/N’s cheeks and the way she cast her eyes down to the coffee table make her look almost guilty. A smile stole her lips, and she took a drink of her tea to hide it.

“What is it?” he prodded, gently.

She hesitated momentarily before she answered. “I was hoping you would offer,” she muttered, trying and failing to keep a sheepish grin in check.

The trickster god felt a flit of warm admiration in his chest. Outside of their doors, she was such a force to be reckoned with, and led her workplace with a graceful leadership that was seldom seen in most species. But here, in the young hours of the morning, she bit her tongue and hesitated to tell him what she wanted, like a teenager stumbling over her first summer lover.

He reached across his lap and plucked her cup of tea from her hands, taking a sip of it himself before setting it down on the coffee table. He stuck his index finger in his book to keep his place and stood, beckoning his lover to follow him. She took his hand and trailed behind him, still blushing.

She was the first under the duvet and cuddled up close to his side as soon as he joined her, heaving another deep, rattling sigh. Loki flicked off the harsh electronic light by the bedside and fluttered his fingers to bring to life a small slip of flame, releasing it to hover over his shoulder. He shifted his arm to drape over her shoulders and hold her closer, dragging his fingers over her bicep.

“Would you like me to start at the beginning?” he asked quietly as Y/N’s arm snaked across his middle.

“No,” she answered, little more than a whisper. “I don’t mind.”

Loki opened his book again and kept it open with one broad hand, resting his wrist on her forearm. “They soon came to a wooden gate, high and broad,” he began, “beyond which they could see gardens and a cluster of low wooden buildings, some thatched and made of unshaped logs: barns, stables, sheds, and a long low wooden house.”

~

As Loki began his story, Y/N closed her eyes and tried to focus on the sound of his voice, low and soothing, that rumbled in his chest. She could feel his pulse beneath her ear, thudding steadily beneath his ribs. His fingers traced over her skin with no discernable pattern, and soon she drifted deep into the warm, musky air and the buzzing of bees that Loki was describing.

For the first time in at least a week, the incurable nagging at her mind gave way to a growing sense of calm and tiredness. Faster than she anticipated, sleep took her into its arms, welcoming after so long apart, delivered by Loki’s gentle voice and soft touch.


End file.
